Taste of adventure in city

The school has made one adventure sport compulsory for all students from this year. A daylong adventure camp was conducted on the campus last weekend to give the students their first taste of “life on the edge”.

“The adventure sports department is a new avenue for our students to go beyond academics and get a taste of life on the edge. It brings them closer to nature and helps them develop life-saving skills and even teaches them how to be a real team player. These activities force you to push the limit and emerge as a more confident individual,” said principal Sunita Sen.

The camp included three activities — commando walk, ziplining and gliding past a suspension. “I thought the girls need to learn a few basics before actually trying adventure sports. What we did here today was just a preview of what actually happens at a camp site,” said Soma Majumder Pal, the ECA (extra-curricular activities) and adventure sports teacher at the school.

The girls had great fun walking up a rope ladder, sliding through a suspension bridge and ziplining from the fourth floor of the school building to the ground floor around 70 feet below.

“We all had been looking forward to this camp. This is also a fitness test for us. Though I’ve been part of Bulbul camps and have gone on trekking expeditions on holidays, the thrill of doing something unfamiliar in familiar surroundings is a different experience,” said Kalpita Nag, a Class VII student.

Fatima Zohra Imam of Class VIII managed to sail through even though her hair got entangled in the rope. “I didn’t give up. I finished the job,” she smiled.

The final activity of the day was the commando walk, for which the girls had to balance themselves on two lines of ropes suspended horizontally next to each other. “Though I had difficulty mastering the commando walk, I made it in the end. Initially I was scared of height but after doing this I’m gradually trying to overcome that fear,” said Ishika Yadav of Class VIII.

All students will be graded according to criteria such as application on field and presence of mind. “For example, I might ask them to build a shelter in the wilderness. There are a few things you need to keep in mind while doing this,” said Pal, who plans to take the girls on an overnight camp outside the city in the final semester. “I will also teach them navigation and fire-making.”